How to enter the 2014 Bernard Matthews Youth Awards

The Bernard Matthews Youth Awards, in association with the Eastern Daily Press, are now in their sixth year.

As well as the food and farming award, there are also sport, community, charity, arts, bravery and education categories, and each award has a £1,000 prize.

They are all open to 11 to 18-year-olds living in Norfolk and Suffolk, both groups and individuals, and young people can either enter themselves or be nominated by somebody else.

There is also a Hero Award which gives young people the opportunity to recognise an adult who in their eyes is a real young people’s champion, and the prize for this award is a special trophy.

The 2014 awards winners will be revealed in a ceremony on October 28 at Open, in Norwich, and the event will feature entertainment by young performers from youth arts centre The Garage.

The closing date for BMYA entries is Friday, August 22 at 5pm. For more information visit www.bmyouthawards.com, call 01603 706566 or follow @bmyouthawards on Twitter.

Sixteen-year-old Emily, from Sprowston, impressed the 2013 judges with her dedication to her sport, and now the Youth Awards are hoping Emily’s story will encourage other young people from Norfolk and Suffolk to enter the 2014 awards.

By the time of last year’s ceremony Emily had already achieved great things at local and international level in artistic gymnastics.

She competes on four apparatus – floor, beam, bars and vault – and Youth Awards judges were impressed with how Emily represented Norfolk Academy of Gymnastics, Norfolk, the east and Great Britain.

Prior to scooping the £1,000 Youth Awards sport prize, Emily had come third in an international competition in Belgium, and second in an international competition in France, as well as being Norfolk and regional champion and a member of the GB squad since 2009.

About winning the award, she said: “It was amazing. I just could not believe it.”

She added: “The award prize helped a lot with my training costs and travel costs. It helped me to achieve.

“I also gave money to my coach to improve the gym (Norfolk Academy of Gymnastics).”

Emily is currently recovering from an operation on her left arm, but she hopes to be back competing in September and her long term goal is to compete in the Olympics.

In March she won silver on floor in the British Championships in Liverpool and in the same month she came second on floor in the English Championships.

Emily, a member of the GB Squad, was also the regional champion in vault, beam and floor last year.

She encouraged more young people to enter this year’s Bernard Matthews Youth Awards.

“It’s a brilliant thing and it helps a lot. It helps you achieve goals that you want to achieve,” she said.

The 2014 Bernard Matthews Youth Award for sport is designed to recognise an individual or team who has achieved something outstanding in their chosen sport. The judging will take into account the nature of the achievement, any challenging circumstances and any comparison between their peers’ achievements. For more details on how to enter visit www.bmyouthawards.com